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Journals / Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi / 2026 / Volume: 32 Issue: 2

The Expert System Approach in Dairy Farm Design

İlkay Alkan(EGE ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-7740-0841
Baki Ünal(EGE UNIVERSITY)0000-0001-6605-9716
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-03-24
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The results demonstrate that ADDF significantly reduces design time, improves decision-making in herd housing and infrastructure planning, and supports animal welfare-focused design principles.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Ensuring animal welfare, labor efficiency, and sustainable productivity in dairy farms requires barn and facility designs that are compatible with herd structure and animal behaviour.
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Key Findings & Data:Each module operates with clearly defined input-output relationships, and the system was implemented as a desktop application using Visual Basic 6.0.
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Conclusion & Impact:The results demonstrate that ADDF significantly reduces design time, improves decision-making in herd housing and infrastructure planning, and supports animal welfare-focused design principles.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Dairy cattle · Animal welfare · Farm designing

Abstract

Ensuring animal welfare, labor efficiency, and sustainable productivity in dairy farms requires barn and facility designs that are compatible with herd structure and animal behaviour. The aim of this study is to present the development of an expert system called the Architectural Designing of Dairy Farms (ADDF), designed to automate and support the architectural planning process of dairy cattle operations. The system is based on ten modules encompassing herd size estimation, group management, and architectural layout of pens and service structures. Each module operates with clearly defined input-output relationships, and the system was implemented as a desktop application using Visual Basic 6.0. User-defined parameters, including the number of mature cows and milking shift length, allow for dynamic scenario analysis across different herd sizes and farm management strategies. A hypothetical case involving 250 dairy cows and a 3-hour milking shift was used to validate the model, and architectural plans were generated using AutoCAD. The results demonstrate that ADDF significantly reduces design time, improves decision-making in herd housing and infrastructure planning, and supports animal welfare-focused design principles. The system offers a flexible and practical tool to improve the efficiency of dairy farm design processes, with potential for integration into future smart farming systems.

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Cite This Article

Alkan, İ., Ünal, B. (2026). The Expert System Approach in Dairy Farm Design. Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi, Volume: 32 Issue: 2. https://doi.org/10.15832/ankutbd.1748223

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